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Five things to watch when the New Jersey Devils take on the Carolina Hurricanes:
1. Taylor Hall
Hall has been fantastic all season long and yet he's somehow found a way to take his game up a notch of late.
He is currently riding a league-leading 15-game point streak and is the NHL's 3rd leading scorer during that stretch.
The Hurricanes will have their hands full slowing Hall down, especially without last change and the ability to hard match the Jaccob Slavin - Brett Pesce pairing.
2. Discipline
The Devils can hold their own on the penalty kill but they'll be playing with fire if they aren't disciplined tonight.
While up a man, the Hurricanes lead the league in Corsi For/60 (116.28) and rank 2nd in Expected Goals For/60 (9.5).
They have some highly skilled, creative forwards and defensemen that can wire it – such as Justin Faulk, who recently scored a hat trick – so it's important the Devils limit their power play opportunities.
3. Keith Kinkaid
Devils goaltenders have posted a sub .900 save percentage in five consecutive games and eight of the last 10. Shockingly, they've won just four times in that span.
Right now, the Devils need to score a lot to win games and that's difficult against a team like Carolina. They're a very good at 5v5 and they don't take penalties – no team has taken fewer – so you can't really bank on a power play marker or two.
The Devils need Keith Kinkaid to step up and give them a quality start.
4. Nick Lappin's promotion
Lappin has played three games with the Devils this season and is yet to be featured on a special teams unit. In other words, he's here for his 5v5 play. So far it hasn't been good. In a little more than 30 minutes, the Devils have been out-chanced 20-10 with Lappin on the ice. The sample size is very small, and better linemates could help, but he doesn't strike me as a guy who should be playing in the top-6.
5. Match game
While the Hurricanes have at least two skilled forwards on each of their top three lines, I'd be matching the shutdown units against the Sebastian Aho line.
Aho is their leading scorer, in both goals and points, and Jeff Skinner has been one of the best chance generators in the league this season. They're the guys I'd want to really zero in on.
Among 114 pairings with 200+ minutes together, the Andy Greene - Sami Vatanen pairing ranks 30th allowing a very solid 2.08 expected goals/60. I think they'd be able to handle themselves adequately.
Here are the projected lineups:
New Jersey
Taylor Hall - Nico Hischier - Kyle Palmieri
Jesper Bratt - Pavel Zacha - Nick Lappin
Miles Wood - Travis Zajac - Stefan Noesen
Jimmy Hayes - Blake Coleman - Drew Stafford
Andy Greene - Sami Vatanen
John Moore - Damon Severson
Will Butcher - Ben Lovejoy
Keith Kinkaid
Carolina (via DailyFaceoff.com)
Brock McGinn - Jordan Staal - Elias Lindholm
Teuvo Teravinen - Victor Rask - Justin Williams
Jeff Skinner - Sebastian Aho - Lee Stempniak
Joakim Nordstrom - Derek Ryan - Phil Di Giuseppe
Jaccob Slavin - Brett Pesce
Haydn Fleury - Justin Faulk
Noah Hanifin - Trevor van Riemsdyk
Cam Ward
Puck drop is just after 7:00 p.m. Eastern and can be seen on MSG+ and FS-SE.
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